The Pagoda
ISBN: , SKU: , AUTHOR: Powell, Patricia, PUBLISHER: Alfred A. Knopf, In this brilliantly original and exotic novel, a young writer brings to life the mysterious world of an immigrant who flees China in the s to seek a better life in Jamaica. The setting is a poor village outside a sugar plantation. The immigrant is Lowe, about 50, the owner of a small shop and guardian of a secret that is gradually revealed. Writing to a long-estranged daughter, Lowe tells her what has happened during their years apart -- a tale of exile from China, of separation from family, of shipboard adventures, of an unwanted pregnancy and the arrangement that was made to avoid a scandal -- and the three decades of living as man and wife with a light-skinned black woman named Sylvie. This is the story of the destruction of a world: the burning of Lowe's shop; and of the creation of a dream: the building of the Pagoda, a school where Chinese workers can learn about their history and become a part of Jamaican life. Artful and extraordinary, a mesmerizing tale of love, longing, and hidden identity.